Calibration correction for implicit beamforming in MIMO systems

ABSTRACT

A transmitter beamforming technique for use in a MIMO wireless communication system determines a calibration factor and then applies the calibration factor to a transmit beamforming steering matrix developed using implicit beamforming. The beamforming technique first determines descriptions of both the forward and reverse channels, determines an estimate of the forward channel from the description of the reverse channel, determines right singular matrixes which model the forward channel and the estimated forward channel and then develops a calibration factor from the determined right singular matrixes. The beamforming technique then applies the determined calibration factor to a steering matrix which is calculated using an implicit beamforming technique. The use of this beamforming technique provides superior beamforming results when using implicit beamforming without having to take the necessary steps to determine a description of the actual forward channel each time a new steering matrix is to be calculated.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application of U.S.application Ser. No. 11/681,548, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,340,597, entitled“Calibration Correction for Implicit Beamforming in a Wireless MIMOCommunication System,” filed Mar. 2, 2007, which claims the benefit ofU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/796,849, entitled“Calibration Correction Calculation for Implicit Beamforming in MIMOSystems,” which was filed on May 2, 2006. The entire disclosures of bothof the above-referenced applications are hereby incorporated byreference herein.

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY

The present invention relates generally to wireless communicationsystems and, more particularly, to a system and method for beamformingwhile transmitting information in a multiple-input, multiple-outputwireless communication system.

BACKGROUND

An ever-increasing number of relatively cheap, low power wireless datacommunication services, networks and devices have been made availableover the past number of years, promising near wire speed transmissionand reliability. Various wireless technology is described in detail inthe 802.11 IEEE Standard, including for example, the IEEE Standard802.11a (1999) and its updates and amendments, the IEEE Standard 802.11g(2003), as well as the IEEE Standard 802.11n now in the process of beingadopted, all of which are collectively incorporated herein fully byreference. These standards have been or are in the process of beingcommercialized with the promise of 54 Mbps or more effective bandwidth,making them a strong competitor to traditional wired Ethernet and themore ubiquitous “802.11b” or “WiFi” 11 Mbps mobile wireless transmissionstandard.

Generally speaking, transmission systems compliant with the IEEE 802.11aand 802.11g or “802.11a/g” as well as the 802.11n standards achievetheir high data transmission rates using Orthogonal Frequency DivisionModulation or OFDM encoded symbols mapped up to a 64 quadratureamplitude modulation (QAM) multi-carrier constellation. In a generalsense, the use of OFDM divides the overall system bandwidth into anumber of frequency sub-bands or channels, with each frequency sub-bandbeing associated with a respective sub-carrier upon which data may bemodulated. Thus, each frequency sub-band of the OFDM system may beviewed as an independent transmission channel within which to send data,thereby increasing the overall throughput or transmission rate of thecommunication system.

Transmitters used in the wireless communication systems that arecompliant with the aforementioned 802.11a/802.11g/802.11n standards aswell as other standards such as the 802.16a IEEE Standard, typicallyperform multi-carrier OFDM symbol encoding (which may include errorcorrection encoding and interleaving), convert the encoded symbols intothe time domain using Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) techniques,and perform digital to analog conversion and conventional radiofrequency (RF) upconversion on the signals. These transmitters thentransmit the modulated and upconverted signals after appropriate poweramplification to one or more receivers, resulting in a relativelyhigh-speed time domain signal with a large peak-to-average ratio (PAR).

Likewise, the receivers used in the wireless communication systems thatare compliant with the aforementioned 802.11a/802.11g/802.11n and802.16a IEEE standards typically include an RF receiving unit thatperforms RF downconversion and filtering of the received signals (whichmay be performed in one or more stages), and a baseband processor unitthat processes the OFDM encoded symbols bearing the data of interest.The digital form of each OFDM symbol presented in the frequency domainis recovered after baseband downconverting, conventional analog todigital conversion and Fast Fourier Transformation of the received timedomain analog signal. Thereafter, the baseband processor performsdemodulation (phase rotation) and frequency domain equalization (FEQ) torecover the transmitted symbols, and these symbols are then processed ina Viterbi decoder to estimate or determine the most likely identity ofthe transmitted symbol. The recovered and recognized stream of symbolsis then decoded, which may include deinterleaving and error correctionusing any of a number of known error correction techniques, to produce aset of recovered signals corresponding to the original signalstransmitted by the transmitter.

In wireless communication systems, the RF modulated signals generated bythe transmitter may reach a particular receiver via a number ofdifferent propagation paths, the characteristics of which typicallychange over time due to the phenomena of multi-path and fading.Moreover, the characteristics of a propagation channel differ or varybased on the frequency of propagation. To compensate for the timevarying, frequency selective nature of the propagation effects, andgenerally to enhance effective encoding and modulation in a wirelesscommunication system, each receiver of the wireless communication systemmay periodically develop or collect channel state information (CSI) foreach of the frequency channels, such as the channels associated witheach of the OFDM sub-bands discussed above. Generally speaking, CSI isinformation describing one or more characteristics of each of the OFDMchannels (for example, the gain, the phase and the SNR of each channel).Upon determining the CSI for one or more channels, the receiver may sendthis CSI back to the transmitter, which may use the CSI for each channelto precondition the signals transmitted using that channel so as tocompensate for the varying propagation effects of each of the channels.

An important part of a wireless communication system is therefore theselection of the appropriate data rates, and the coding and modulationschemes to be used for a data transmission based on channel conditions.Generally speaking, it is desirable to use the selection process tomaximize throughput while meeting certain quality objectives, such asthose defined by a desired frame error rate (FER), latency criteria,etc.

To further increase the number of signals which may be propagated in thecommunication system and/or to compensate for deleterious effectsassociated with the various propagation paths, and to thereby improvetransmission performance, it is known to use multiple transmission andreceive antennas within a wireless transmission system. Such a system iscommonly referred to as a multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO)wireless transmission system and is specifically provided for within the802.11n IEEE Standard now being adopted. As is known, the use of MIMOtechnology produces significant increases in spectral efficiency andlink reliability, and these benefits generally increase as the number oftransmission and receive antennas within the MIMO system increases.

In addition to the frequency channels created by the use of OFDM, a MIMOchannel formed by the various transmission and receive antennas betweena particular transmitter and a particular receiver includes a number ofindependent spatial channels. As is known, a wireless MIMO communicationsystem can provide improved performance (e.g., increased transmissioncapacity) by utilizing the additional dimensionalities created by thesespatial channels for the transmission of additional data. Of course, thespatial channels of a wideband MIMO system may experience differentchannel conditions (e.g., different fading and multi-path effects)across the overall system bandwidth and may therefore achieve differentSNRs at different frequencies (i.e., at the different OFDM frequencysub-bands) of the overall system bandwidth. Consequently, the number ofinformation bits per modulation symbol (i.e., the data rate) that may betransmitted using the different frequency sub-bands of each spatialchannel for a particular level of performance may differ from frequencysub-band to frequency sub-band.

However, instead of using the various different transmission and receiveantennas to form separate spatial channels on which additionalinformation is sent, better transmission and reception properties can beobtained in a MIMO system by using each of the various transmissionantennas of the MIMO system to transmit the same signal while phasing(and amplifying) this signal as it is provided to the varioustransmission antennas to achieve beamforming or beamsteering. Generallyspeaking, beamforming or beamsteering creates a spatial gain patternhaving one or more high gain lobes or beams (as compared to the gainobtained by an omni-directional antenna) in one or more particulardirections, while reducing the gain over that obtained by anomni-directional antenna in other directions. If the gain pattern isconfigured to produce a high gain lobe in the direction of each of thereceiver antennas, the MIMO system can obtain better transmissionreliability between a particular transmitter and a particular receiver,over that obtained by single transmitter-antenna/receiver-antennasystems.

There are many known techniques for determining a steering matrixspecifying the beamsteering coefficients that need to be used toproperly condition the signals being applied to the various transmissionantennas so as to produce the desired transmit gain pattern at thetransmitter. As is known, these coefficients may specify the gain andphasing of the signals to be provided to the transmission antennas toproduce high gain lobes in particular or predetermined directions. Thesetechniques include, for example, transmit-MRC (maximum ratio combining)and singular value decomposition (SVD). An important part of determiningthe steering matrix is taking into account the specifics of the channelbetween the transmitter and the receiver, referred to herein as theforward channel. As a result, steering matrixes are typically determinedbased on the CSI of the forward channel. However, to determine the CSIor other specifics of the forward channel, the transmitter must firstsend a known test or calibration signal to the receiver, which thencomputes or determines the specifics of the forward channel (e.g., theCSI for the forward channel) and then sends the CSI or other indicationsof the forward channel back to the transmitter, thereby requiringsignals to be sent both from the transmitter to the receiver and thenfrom the receiver back to the transmitter in order to performbeamforming in the forward channel. Moreover, this exchange must occureach time the forward channel is determined (e.g., each time a steeringmatrix is to be calculated for the forward channel).

To reduce the amount of startup exchanges required to performbeamforming based on CSI or other channel information, it is known toperform implicit beamforming in a MIMO communication system. Withimplicit beamforming, the steering matrix is calculated or determinedbased on the assumption that the forward channel (i.e., the channel fromthe transmitter to the receiver in which beamforming is to beaccomplished) can be estimated from the reverse channel (i.e., thechannel from the receiver to the transmitter). In particular, theforward channel can ideally be estimated as the matrix transpose of thereverse channel. Thus, in the ideal case, the transmitter only needs toreceive signals from the receiver to produce a steering matrix for theforward channel, as the transmitter can use the signals from thereceiver to determine the reverse channel, and can simply estimate theforward channel as a matrix transpose of the reverse channel. As aresult, implicit beamforming reduces the amount of startup exchangesignals that need to be sent between a transmitter and a receiverbecause the transmitter can estimate the forward channel based solely onsignals sent from the receiver to the transmitter.

Unfortunately, however, radio frequency (RF) chain impairments in theform of gain/phase imbalances and coupling losses impair the idealreciprocity between the forward and the reverse channels, making itnecessary to perform additional calibration exchanges each time theforward channel is being determined, to account for these impairments.In any event, these RF chain impairments render the use of implicitbeamforming (which estimates the forward channel based solely on anestimate of the reverse channel) inferior in practice.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

A transmitter beamforming technique for use in a MIMO wirelesscommunication system determines a calibration factor and then appliesthe calibration factor to a transmit beamforming steering matrixdeveloped using implicit beamforming, i.e., using an estimate of aforward channel disposed between a transmitter and a receiver based on ameasurement of the reverse channel disposed between the receiver and thetransmitter. The beamforming technique first determines measureddescriptions of both the forward and reverse channels, determines anestimate of the forward channel from the measured description of thereverse channel, determines right singular matrixes which model theforward channel and the estimated forward channel and then develops acalibration factor from the determined right singular matrixes.Thereafter, each time a steering matrix is to be calculated for theforward channel, the beamforming technique applies the determinedcalibration factor to a steering matrix which is determined using animplicit beamforming technique, i.e., assuming that the forward channelcan be described as the transpose or matrix transpose of the reversechannel. The use of this beamforming technique provides superiorbeamforming results when using implicit beamforming without having totake the necessary steps to determine a description of the actualforward channel each time a new steering matrix is to be calculated.

According to one embodiment, a method of beamforming within acommunication system having a transmitter with a plurality oftransmitter antennas and a receiver having a multiplicity of receiverantennas includes determining a description of a forward channel inwhich a signal travels from the transmitter to the receiver, determininga description of a reverse channel in which a signal travels from thereceiver to the transmitter and developing a calibration factor from thedescription of the forward channel and the description of the reversechannel. Thereafter, the method develops a steering matrix using anestimate of the forward channel and the calibration factor and uses thesteering matrix to perform beamforming in the forward channel.

If desired, the method may develop the steering matrix by developing theestimate of the forward channel from a description of the reversechannel. In this case, developing the estimate of the forward channelmay include measuring the propagation effects on a signal traveling fromthe receiver to the transmitter to determine the description of thereverse channel and determining the transpose of the description of thereverse channel as the estimate of the forward channel. If desired,determining the description of the reverse channel may includeexpressing the reverse channel in matrix form and determining thetranspose of the description of the reverse channel by transposing thematrix form of the description of the reverse channel.

Moreover, the method may determine the description of the forwardchannel by sending a known signal from the transmitter to the receiver,detecting the known signal at the receiver and determining thedescription of the forward channel from the detected known signal.Additionally, if desired, determining the description of the reversechannel may include sending a known signal from the receiver to thetransmitter, detecting the known signal at the transmitter anddetermining the description of the reverse channel from the detectedknown signal.

In one case, developing the calibration factor from the description ofthe forward channel and the description of the reverse channel mayinclude developing an estimate of the forward channel from thedescription of the reverse channel, determining one or more rightsingular matrixes defining the description of the forward channel,determining one or more right singular matrixes defining the descriptionof the estimate of the forward channel and developing the calibrationfactor as a function of the one or more right singular matrixes of theforward channel and the one or more right singular matrixes of theestimate of the forward channel. If desired, developing the calibrationfactor as a function of the one or more right singular matrixes of theforward channel and the one or more right singular matrixes of theestimate of the forward channel may include determining the calibrationfactor as a product of (1) one of the one or more right singularmatrixes of the forward channel and the one or more right singularmatrixes of the estimate of the forward channel and (2) a transposed andconjugated version of the other one of the one or more right singularmatrixes of the forward channel and the one or more right singularmatrixes of the estimate of the forward channel. Here, developing thesteering matrix may include developing an estimate of the forwardchannel from a detected description of the reverse channel, developingan implicit steering matrix from the estimate of the forward channel anddeveloping a corrected steering matrix by combining the calibrationfactor with the implicit steering matrix. Additionally, using thesteering matrix to perform beamforming in the forward channel mayinclude using the corrected steering matrix.

Still further, determining the one or more right singular matrixesdefining the description of the forward channel, or determining the oneor more right singular matrixes defining the description of the estimateof the forward channel may include using singular value decomposition todetermine the one or more right singular matrixes defining thedescription of the forward channel or the one or more right singularmatrixes defining the description of the estimate of the forwardchannel.

In another embodiment, a wireless transmitter for transmitting signalsto one or more receivers includes a multiplicity of transmissionantennas, a beamforming network coupled to the multiplicity oftransmission antennas and a controller coupled to the beamformingnetwork to control the beamforming network using a steering matrix so asto produce, via the multiplicity of transmission antennas, a transmitgain pattern having one or more high gain lobes. The wirelesstransmitter also includes a calibration factor calculation unit thatobtains a description of a forward channel in which a signal travelsfrom the transmitter to a receiver, obtains a description of a reversechannel in which a signal travels from the receiver to the transmitter,and develops a calibration factor from the description of the forwardchannel and the description of the reverse channel. A steering matrixcalculation unit is then adapted to develop the steering matrix using anestimate of the forward channel and the calibration factor.

In yet another embodiment, a wireless communication system includes atransmitter having a plurality of transmission antennas, a receiver, amultiplicity of receiver antennas associated with the receiver and abeamforming network coupled to the plurality of transmission antennas. Acontroller is coupled to the beamforming network to control thebeamforming network using a steering matrix so as to produce a transmitgain pattern based on the steering matrix while a calibration factorcalculation unit develops a calibration factor from a description of aforward channel in which a signal travels from the transmitter to thereceiver and from a description of a reverse channel in which a signaltravels from the receiver to the transmitter. Additionally, a steeringmatrix calculation unit develops the steering matrix using an estimateof the forward channel and the calibration factor.

In still another embodiment, a beamforming system for use in a wirelesscommunication system having a transmitter with multiple transmissionantennas and one or more receivers having a plurality of receiverantennas includes a computer readable memory and a routine stored on thecomputer readable memory and adapted to be executed on a processor todetermine a calibration factor and to calculate a steering matrix usingthe calibration factor and a measured description of a reverse channel,in which a signal travels from one of the receivers to the transmitter.The routine then uses the steering matrix to implement beamforming in aforward channel, in which a signal travels from the transmitter to theone of the receivers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless MIMO communication ortransmission system that determines and uses a calibration factor aspart of an implicit beamforming technique used in a transmitter of theMIMO communication system;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a transmit gain pattern forwireless communications between a single transmitter and a singlereceiver implementing a transmitter beamforming technique that uses acalibration factor as part of an implicit beamforming technique; and

FIGS. 3A-3H illustrate examples of various different devices in which awireless communication system implementing the beamforming techniquesdescribed herein may be used.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While the beamforming techniques described herein for processing andeffecting a wireless data transmission are described as being used incommunication systems that use one of the IEEE Standard 802.11xcommunication standards, these techniques may be used in various othertypes of wireless communication systems and are not limited to thoseconforming to one or more of the IEEE Standard 802.11x standards.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a MIMO communication system 10 is illustratedin block diagram form as generally including a single transmitter 12having multiple transmission antennas 14A-14N and a single receiver 16having multiple receiver antennas 18A-18M. The number of transmissionantennas 14A-14N can be the same as, more than, or less than the numberof receiver antennas 18A-18M. As shown in FIG. 1, the transmitter 12 mayinclude a controller 20 coupled to a memory 21, a symbol encoder andmodulator unit 22 and a space-time filtering or mapping block 24, alsoreferred to herein as a transmit beamforming network. The transmitter 12may also include a matrix equalizer 25 and a symbol demodulator anddecoder unit 26 to perform demodulation and decoding of signals receivedvia the antennas 14A-14N in a receive mode. Additionally, thetransmitter 12 includes a steering matrix calculation unit 28 and acalibration factor calculation unit 29. The controller 12 may be anydesired type of controller and the controller 12, the steering matrixcalculation unit 28 and the calibration factor calculation unit 29 maybe implemented as one or more standard multi-purpose, programmableprocessors, such as micro-processors, as application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), or may be implemented using any other desired types ofhardware, software and/or firmware. Likewise, the space-time mappingblock 24 or beamforming network, and the matrix equalizer 25 may beimplemented using known or standard hardware and/or software elements.If desired, various of the transmitter components, such as thecontroller 20, the modulator unit 22, the demodulator unit 26, thesteering matrix calculation unit 28, the calibration factor calculationunit 29, the space-time mapping block 24 and the matrix equalizer 25 maybe implemented in the same or in different hardware devices, such as inthe same or different processors. Additionally, each of these componentsof the transmitter 12 may be disposed in a housing 31 (shown in dottedrelief in FIG. 1) and the routines or instructions for implementing thefunctionality of any of these components may be stored in the memory 21or within other memory devices associated with the individual hardwareused to implement these components.

During operation, information signals T_(x1)-T_(xn) which are to betransmitted from the transmitter 12 to the receiver 16 are provided tothe symbol encoder and modulator unit 22 for encoding and modulation. Ofcourse, any desired number of signals T_(x1)-T_(xn) may be provided tothe modulator unit 22, with this number generally being limited by themodulation scheme used by and the bandwidth associated with the MIMOcommunication system 10. Additionally, the signals T_(x1)-T_(xn) may beany type of signals, including analog or digital signals, and mayrepresent any desired type of data or information. Additionally, ifdesired, a known test or control signal C_(x1) (which may be stored inthe memory 21) may be provided to the symbol encoder and modulator unit22 for use in determining CSI related information describing thecharacteristics of the channel(s) between the transmitter 12 and thereceiver 16. If desired, the same control signal or a different controlsignal may be used to determine the CSI for each frequency and/orspatial channel used in the MIMO communication system 10.

The symbol encoder and modulator unit 22 may interleave digitalrepresentations of the various signals T_(x1)-T_(xn) and C_(x1) and mayperform any other known type(s) of error-correction encoding on thesignals T_(x1)-T_(xn) and C_(x1) to produce one or more streams ofsymbols to be modulated and sent from the transmitter 12 to the receiver16. While the symbols may be modulated using any desired or suitable QAMtechnique, such as using 64 QAM, these symbols may be modulated in anyother known or desired manner including, for example, using any otherdesired phase and/or frequency modulation techniques. In any event, themodulated symbol streams are provided by the symbol encoder andmodulator unit 22 to the space-time mapping block 24 for processingbefore being transmitted via the antennas 14A-14N. While notspecifically shown in FIG. 1, the modulated symbol streams may beup-converted to the RF carrier frequencies associated with an OFDMtechnique (in one or more stages) before being processed by thespace-time mapping block 24 in accordance with a beamforming techniquemore specifically described herein. Upon receiving the modulatedsignals, the space-time mapping block 24 or beamforming networkprocesses the modulated signals by injecting delays and/or gains intothe modulated signals based on a steering matrix provided by thecontroller 12, to thereby perform beamsteering or beamforming via thetransmission antennas 14A-14N.

The signals transmitted by the transmitter 12 are detected by thereceiver antennas 18A-18M and may be processed by a matrix equalizer 35within the receiver 16 to enhance the reception capabilities of theantennas 18A-18M. As will be understood, the processing applied at thereceiver 16 (as well as at the transmitter 12) may be based on, forexample, the CSI developed by the receiver 16 in response to thetransmission of the test or control signal C_(x1). In particular, acontroller 40 or other unit within the receiver 16, such as a channeldetermination unit 39, may process the received control signal C_(x1)and develop therefrom a measured description of the forward channelbetween the transmitter 12 and the receiver 16 by determining orcharacterizing the propagation effects of the forward channel on thesignal C_(x1) as it traveled through the forward channel. In any event,a symbol demodulator and decoder unit 36, under control of thecontroller 40, may decode and demodulate the received symbol strings asprocessed by the matrix equalizer 35. In this process, these signals maybe downconverted to baseband. Generally, the demodulator and decoderunit 36 may operate to remove effects of the forward channel based onthe CSI as well as to perform demodulation on the received symbols toproduce a digital bit stream. In some cases, if desired, the symboldemodulator and decoder unit 36 may perform error correction decodingand deinterleaving on the bit stream to produce the received signalsR_(x1)-R_(xn) corresponding to the originally transmitted signalsT_(x1)-T_(xn).

As shown in FIG. 1, the receiver 16 may also include a memory 41 and asymbol encoder and modulator unit 46 which may receive one or moresignals T_(R1)-T_(Rm) which may be encoded and modulated using anydesired encoding and modulation techniques. The receiver 16 may alsoprovide one or more known test or control signals C_(R1) to the symbolencoder/modulator unit 46 to be sent to the transmitter 12 to enable thetransmitter 12 to determine a measured description of the reversechannel between the receiver 16 and the transmitter 12. The encoded andmodulated symbol stream may then be upconverted and processed by aspace-time mapping block 34 to perform beamsteering based on a steeringmatrix developed by a steering matrix calculation unit 48, prior tobeing transmitted via the receiver antennas 18A-18N to, for example, thetransmitter 12, thereby implementing the reverse link. As shown in FIG.1, each of the receiver components may be disposed in a housing 51.

The matrix equalizer 25 and the demodulator/decoder unit 26 within thetransmitter 12 operate similarly to the matrix equalizer 35 and thedemodulator/decoder unit 36 of the receiver 16 to demodulate and decodethe signals transmitted by the receiver 16 to produce the recoveredsignals R_(R1)-R_(Rm). Here again, the matrix equalizer 25 may processthe received signals in any known manner to enhance the separation andtherefore the reception of the various signals transmitted by theantennas 18A-18M. Of course, the CSI or other measured description ofthe forward channel for the various OFDM channel(s) may be used by thesteering matrix calculation units 28 and 48 as well as by thecontrollers 20 and 40 to perform beamforming and to determine a steeringmatrix used by the space-time mapping blocks 24, 34. As noted above, theCSI, beamforming and other programs and data such as the steering matrixused by the units 28 and 48 and by the controllers 20 and 40, acalibration factor determined by the calibration factor calculation unit29, etc. may be stored in the memories 21 and 41.

As is generally known, beamforming or beamsteering typically includesapplying appropriate phases and gains to the various signals as sentthrough the multiple transmission antennas 14A-14N, in a manner withcauses the signals sent from the different transmission antennas 14A-14Nto constructively interact (add in phase) in certain predetermineddirections and to deconstructively interact (cancel) in otherdirections. Thus, beamsteering typically produces a beam pattern havinghigh gain regions (referred to as high gain lobes) in variouspredetermined directions and low gain regions (typically referred to asnulls) in other directions. The use of beamforming techniques in a MIMOsystem enables a signal to be sent with high gain (as compared to anomni-directional antenna) in certain directions, and to be sent with lowgain (as compared to an omni-directional antenna) in other directions.Thus, in the MIMO system 10 of FIG. 1, beamforming may be used toenhance signal directivity towards the receiver antennas 18A-18M, whichimproves the SNR of the transmissions and results in more reliabletransmissions. In this case, the beamforming technique will generallyform high gain lobes in the direction of propagation at which thehighest gain is desired, and in particular in the directions ofpropagation from the transmitter 12 to each of the receiver antennas18A-18M of the receiver 16 or to the receiver 16 in general.

To implement beamforming in the transmitter 12, the steering matrixcalculation unit 28 may determine or calculate a set of matrixcoefficients (referred to herein as a steering matrix) which are used bythe space-time mapping block or beamforming network 24 to condition thesignals being transmitted by the antennas 14A-14N. Generally speaking,the steering matrix for any particular frequency channel of the MIMOsystem 10 (in the forward channel between the transmitter 12 and thereceiver 16) may be determined by the steering matrix calculation unit28 based on the CSI determined for that forward channel. In this case,the steering matrix calculation unit 28 may use any desired beamsteering or matrix computation techniques, such as transmit-MRC or SVDtechniques, to compute the steering matrix. As these techniques are wellknown in the art, they will not be discussed in detail herein.

However, as is known, to actually determine the CSI or other measureddescription of the forward channel, i.e., for the channel from thetransmitter 12 to the receiver 16, the transmitter 12 generally sends aknown control or test signal to the receiver 16 (e.g., the signalC_(x1)) and the receiver 16 may then determine the CSI or other measureddescription of the forward channel and send this information back to thetransmitter 12 as part of a payload of a transmission. Additionally, ifdesired, the transmitter 12 may determine the CSI or other measureddescription of the reverse channel, i.e., the channel from the receiver16 to the transmitter 12, from the signal(s) sent from the receiver 16including, for example a further known test or control signal C_(R1). Inany event, in this case, the transmitter 12 must first send a test orcontrol signal to the receiver 16 which then determines a measureddescription of the forward channel and sends this description of theforward channel from the receiver 16 back to the transmitter 12. Thischaracterization of the forward channel thereby requires, each time thesteering matrix is computed, multiple communications between thetransmitter 12 and the receiver 16 so as to enable the transmitter 12 toobtain the CSI or other description of the forward channel used todevelop the steering matrix to be used in the forward channel.

To avoid the use of multiple communications between a particulartransmitter/receiver pair each time a steering matrix is to be computedfor the forward channel and still reduce or account for the errorsintroduced by RF chain impairments in a standard implicit beamformingtechnique, the transmitter 12 may use an implicit beamforming techniquethat applies a calibration factor during the beamforming process tocompensate for measured differences between the actual forward andreverse channels. In particular, this technique first determines acalibration or correction factor as a function of measured descriptionsof the forward and the reverse channels. Then, each time a new steeringmatrix is to be calculated for the forward channel, the beamformingtechnique applies the calibration factor to a steering matrix determinedusing a basic implicit beamforming technique, so that, once thecalibration factor is determined, the transmitter may simply performimplicit beamforming using a measured description of the reverse channel(i.e., the channel between the receiver and the transmitter) to producean estimate of the forward channel (i.e., the channel between thetransmitter and the receiver).

More particularly, a calibration factor routine running within, forexample, the calibration factor calculation unit 29 of FIG. 1, may firstcause a control or test signal C_(x1) to be sent to the receiver 16. Thereceiver 16 receives this signal in any known or desired manner and maythen determine, from this signal, the CSI or other measured descriptionof the forward channel, referred to herein as H_(F). The receiver 16 maythen send an indication of the forward channel H_(F) back to thetransmitter 12 as part of a calibration sequence and may additionallysend a known test or control signal back to the transmitter 12 as partof the calibration sequence. The transmitter 12 receives the signal(s)from the receiver 16 and the steering matrix calculation unit 28 maydetermine from these signals the CSI or other measured description ofthe reverse channel, referred to herein as H_(R). The transmitter 12,and in particular the steering matrix calculation unit 28, alsodetermines or receives the measured description of the forward channelH_(F).

Next the calibration factor routine may use the measured descriptions ofthe forward channel H_(F) and the reverse channel H_(R) to determine acalibration or correction factor for use in future beamsteeringactivities. In particular, the calibration factor routine may firstdetermine the transpose (e.g., matrix transpose) of the description ofthe reverse channel H_(R) in any desired manner to develop an inferredforward channel H_(I), also referred to herein as an estimate of theforward channel. In one embodiment, the measured descriptions of theforward and the reverse channels H_(F) and H_(R) may be expressed inmatrix form, and in this case, the transpose of the reverse channelH_(R) may generally be obtained as the transpose of the channeldescription matrix for the reverse channel H_(R). Ideally, the estimateof the forward channel H_(I) (which again is the transpose of themeasured description of the reverse channel H_(R)) would be equal to themeasured description of the forward channel H_(F). However, because ofRF chain impairments, this ideal situation will rarely if ever exist inactual implementation. To compensate for these RF chain impairmenterrors, the calibration factor routine determines the calibration factorso that, when the calibration factor is multiplied by the estimate ofthe description of the forward channel H_(I), it produces the actualmeasured description of the forward channel H_(F).

One manner that the calibration factor routine may use to calculate thecalibration factor includes determining the right singular matrixes thatdefine each of the forward channel H_(F) and the estimate of the forwardchannel H_(I). In particular, the calibration factor routine may performSVD or any other method or technique which determines a set of rightsingular matrixes that accurately describes or defines the forwardchannel H_(F) and another set of right singular matrixes that accuratelydescribes or defines the estimate of the forward channel H_(I). Thisdetermination can be expressed mathematically as:H _(F) =U _(F) ΣV _(F) ^(H) and  (1)H _(I) =U _(I) ΣV _(I) ^(H)  (2)wherein:

-   -   U_(F) and U_(I) are the left singular matrixes for the forward        channel and the estimate of the forward channel; and    -   V_(F) and V_(I) are the right singular matrixes which define the        forward channel and the estimate of the forward channel        determined using, for example, an SVD technique.

The superscript H in equations (1) and (2) above and (3) below denotesthe conjugate transpose of the associated matrix while the Σ function inthese equations denotes the diagonal singular value matrix.

Next, the calibration factor C can be determined asC=V _(F) *V _(I) ^(H)  (3)

After the calibration factor routine determines the calibration factorC, this calibration factor C may be stored in the memory 21 or in anyother desired memory. The steering matrix calculation unit 28 may,thereafter, simply determine a new steering matrix using implicitbeamforming, i.e., by determining an uncompensated or implicit steeringmatrix using any standard implicit beamforming technique, e.g., based onthe assumption that the inferred channel (i.e., the estimate of theforward channel) H_(I) is equal to the actual forward channel H_(F), butthen multiplying the uncompensated steering matrix by the calibrationfactor C to create a compensated or corrected steering matrix that takesinto account the errors introduced by RF chain impairments. As will beunderstood using this technique, once the calibration factor C (whichcan be a matrix) has been obtained for the forward channel between aparticular transmitter/receiver pair, the transmitter can determine anew steering matrix for the forward channel at any time using implicitbeamforming and the calibration factor C (and thus relying only onsignals transmitted from the receiver to the transmitter, i.e., in thereverse channel).

While the calibration factor C has been described herein as beingdeveloped from right singular matrixes for the forward channel H_(F) andfrom right singular matrixes for the inferred channel H_(I) developedusing an SVD technique, any other desired calculation technique such astransmit MRC can be used to compute or determine the right singularmatrixes for the forward and inferred channels H_(F) and H_(I) whendeveloping the calibration factor C. Likewise, it may be possible todevelop other calibration factors that compensate for the effects of RFchain impairments and other non-equalities that prevent the forwardchannel H_(F) from equaling or being the same as the inferred channelH_(I) developed from the reverse channel H_(R), and these othercalibration factors may be used as well or instead of the calibrationfactor specifically described herein.

To illustrate the beamforming technique described herein, FIG. 2 shows aMIMO communication system 110 having a single transmitter 112 with sixtransmission antennas 114A-114F, and a single receiver 116 with fourreceiver antennas 118A-118D. In this example, the steering matrix isdeveloped by the transmitter 112 using a corrected steering matrixdeveloped in the manner described above to create a transmit gainpattern 119 as shown disposed next to the transmitter 112. Asillustrated in FIG. 2, the transmit gain pattern 119 includes multiplehigh gain lobes 119A-119D disposed in the directions of the receiverantennas 118A-118D. The high gain lobes 119A-119D are orientated in thedirections of propagation from the transmitter 112 to the particularreceiver antennas 118A-118D while lower gain regions, which may eveninclude one or more nulls, are produced in other directions ofpropagation. While FIG. 2 illustrates a separate high gain lobe directedto each of the receiver antennas 118A-118D, it will be understood thatthe actual gain pattern produced by the beam steering matrixcalculations using implicit beamforming and a calibration factor may notnecessarily include a separate high gain lobe for each of the receiverantennas 118A-118D. Instead, the gain pattern developed by the beamsteering matrix for the transmitter 112 may have a single high gain lobecovering or directed generally to more than one of the receiver antennas118A-118D. Thus, it is to be understood that the beam pattern resultingfrom the creation of a steering matrix using implicit beamforming and acalibration factor may or may not have separate high gain lobesseparated by low gain regions or nulls for each of the receiverantennas.

Of course, developing the beam pattern 119 to have high gain regions andlow gain regions based on a calibration factor may be performed in anydesired manner and location. For example, any of the components withinthe receiver 16 of FIG. 1, including the controller 40, the steeringmatrix calculation unit 48 and the channel determination unit 39 maydetermine the CSI or other measured description of the forward channeland, if desired may determine the right singular matrixes for theforward channel from this information. The receiver 16 may then send anyof this determined information to the transmitter 12. If desired,however, the receiver 16 may simply collect the known signal receivedfrom the transmitter 12 and may send this signal back to the transmitter12 without processing this signal in any significant manner, and thetransmitter 12 may then determine the measured description of theforward channel from this information. In either case, the controller 20and/or the steering matrix calculation unit 28 and/or the calibrationfactor calculation unit 29 within the transmitter 12 may use theinformation determined about the forward channel and/or the reversechannel to compute the right singular matrix components for the forwardand/or the reverse (or estimate) channels and may then calculate andapply the calibration factor (which may be in the form of a correctionmatrix) in determining the steering matrix for use in the space-timemapping block 24 to thereby implement beamforming in the forwardchannel.

The use of a beamforming technique using the calibration factordescribed herein can, in certain instances, significantly reduce thecomputational complexity needed to perform the steering matrixcalculations, as well as reduce the amount of feedback required toperform beamsteering, as less CSI may need to be sent from the receiverto the transmitter. Moreover, the use of the calibration factor inimplicit beamforming as described herein, in many cases, may give betterperformance while performing implicit beamsteering to a particularreceiver.

It will be understood that the actual beamforming or steering matrixequations, e.g., the computation of the steering matrix, may beperformed at any desired location within the wireless communicationsystem 10 of FIG. 1, including within the controller 20 or otherhardware, software, or firmware of the transmitter 12, as well as withinthe controller 40 or other hardware, software, or firmware of thereceiver 16. In the later case, the receiver 16 may compute the SVCcomponents to be used by the transmitter 12 based on the specifics ofthe forward channel determined at the receiver 16 and, if desired, theCSI developed by the receiver 16, and may send this information to thetransmitter 12 to be used in calculating the calibration factor orcalibration matrix. On the other hand, the steering matrix for thetransmitter space-time mapping block 24 of FIG. 1 may be calculated bythe steering matrix calculation unit 28 within the transmitter 12 basedon raw channel data or signals sent by the receiver 16 provided and sentback from the receiver 16 to the transmitter 12.

Of course, the beamforming technique described herein is not limited tobeing used in a transmitter of a MIMO communication system communicatingwith a single receiver of the MIMO communication system, but canadditionally be applied when a transmitter of a MIMO communicationsystem is communicating with multiple receivers, each of which has oneor more receiver antennas associated therewith. In this case, thetransmitter may perform or implement a separate calibration factorcalculation for each receiver to which the transmitter will transmit andmay therefore develop a different steering matrix and/or calibrationfactor for each of the possible receivers, and may use those steeringmatrixes to beamform to the separate or different receivers at differenttimes or using different channels, e.g., OFDM channels, of the system.Moreover, while the maximum gains of the high gain lobes of each of thetransmit gain patterns illustrated in FIG. 2 are shown as being thesame, the steering matrix calculation units 28 and 48 may developsteering matrixes which produce high gain lobes with differing maximumgains.

While the beamforming and steering matrix calculations described hereinare described in one example as being implemented in software stored in,for example, one of the memories 21, 41 and implemented on a processorassociated with one or both of the controllers 20, 40, the steeringmatrix calculation units 28, 48 and/or the units 29 and 39 of the MIMOcommunication system 10 of FIG. 1, these routines may alternatively oradditionally be implemented in digital or analog hardware, firmware,application specific integrated circuits, etc., as desired. Ifimplemented in software, the routines may be stored in any computerreadable memory such as in RAM, ROM, flash memory, a magnetic disk, alaser disk, or other storage medium. Likewise, this software may bedelivered to a MIMO system device (such as a transmitter or a receiver)via any known or desired delivery method including, for example, over acommunication channel such as a telephone line, the Internet, a wirelessconnection, etc., or via a transportable medium, such as acomputer-readable disk, flash drive, etc.

The present invention may be embodied in any type of wirelesscommunication system including, for example, ones used in wirelesscomputer systems such as those implemented via a local area network or awide area network, internet, cable and satellite based communicationsystems (such as internet, data, video and voice communication systems),wireless telephone systems (including cellular phone systems, voice overinternet protocol (VoIP) systems, home-based wireless telephone systems,etc.) Referring now to FIGS. 3A-3H, various exemplary implementations ofthe present invention are shown.

Referring to FIG. 3A, the present invention may be used with a hard diskdrive 400 which includes both signal processing and/or control circuits,which are generally identified in FIG. 3A at 402. In someimplementations, signal processing and/or control circuit 402 and/orother circuits (not shown) in HDD 400 may process data, perform codingand/or encryption, perform calculations, and/or format data that isoutput to and/or received from a magnetic storage medium 406.

HDD 400 may communicate with a host device (not shown) such as acomputer, mobile computing devices such as personal digital assistants,cellular phones, media or MP3 players and the like, and/or other devicesvia one or more wired or wireless communication links 408 which mayimplement the beamforming techniques described above. HDD 400 may beconnected to memory 409, such as random access memory (RAM), a lowlatency nonvolatile memory such as flash memory, read only memory (ROM)and/or other suitable electronic data storage.

Referring now to FIG. 3B, the present invention may be embodied in orused with a digital versatile disc (DVD) drive 410 which may includeeither or both signal processing and/or control circuits, which aregenerally identified in FIG. 3B at 412, and/or mass data storage 418 ofDVD drive 410. Signal processing and/or control circuit 412 and/or othercircuits (not shown) in DVD 410 may process data, perform coding and/orencryption, perform calculations, and/or format data that is read fromand/or data written to an optical storage medium 416. In someimplementations, signal processing and/or control circuit 412 and/orother circuits (not shown) in DVD 410 can also perform other functionssuch as encoding and/or decoding and/or any other signal processingfunctions associated with a DVD drive.

DVD drive 410 may communicate with an output device (not shown) such asa computer, television or other device via one or more wired or wirelesscommunication links 417 which may be implemented using the beamformingtechniques described above. DVD 410 may communicate with mass datastorage 418 that stores data in a nonvolatile manner. Mass data storage418 may include a hard disk drive (HDD) such as that shown in FIG. 3A.The HDD may be a mini HDD that includes one or more platters having adiameter that is smaller than approximately 1.8″. DVD 410 may beconnected to memory 419, such as RAM, ROM, low latency nonvolatilememory such as flash memory, and/or other suitable electronic datastorage.

Referring now to FIG. 3C, the present invention may be embodied in ahigh definition television (HDTV) 420 which may include either or bothsignal processing and/or control circuits, which are generallyidentified in FIG. 3C at 422, a WLAN interface and/or mass data storageof the HDTV 420. HDTV 420 receives HDTV input signals in either a wiredor wireless format and generates HDTV output signals for a display 426.In some implementations, signal processing circuit and/or controlcircuit 422 and/or other circuits (not shown) of HDTV 420 may processdata, perform coding and/or encryption, perform calculations, formatdata and/or perform any other type of HDTV processing that may berequired.

HDTV 420 may communicate with mass data storage 427 that stores data ina nonvolatile manner such as optical and/or magnetic storage devices. Atleast one HDD may have the configuration shown in FIG. 3A and/or atleast one DVD may have the configuration shown in FIG. 3B. The HDD maybe a mini HDD that includes one or more platters having a diameter thatis smaller than approximately 1.8″. HDTV 420 may be connected to memory428 such as RAM, ROM, low latency nonvolatile memory such as flashmemory and/or other suitable electronic data storage. HDTV 420 also maysupport connections with a WLAN via a WLAN network interface 429 whichmay implement the beamforming techniques described above.

Referring now to FIG. 3D, the present invention may be used inconjunction with a control system of a vehicle 430 having a WLANinterface and/or mass data storage. In some implementations, the presentinvention may be used within a powertrain control system 432 thatreceives inputs from one or more sensors such as temperature sensors,pressure sensors, rotational sensors, airflow sensors and/or any othersuitable sensors and/or that generates one or more output controlsignals such as engine operating parameters, transmission operatingparameters, and/or other control signals.

The present invention may also be embodied in other control systems 440of vehicle 430. Control system 440 may likewise receive signals frominput sensors 442 and/or output control signals to one or more outputdevices 444. In some implementations, control system 440 may be part ofan anti-lock braking system (ABS), a navigation system, a telematicssystem, a vehicle telematics system, a lane departure system, anadaptive cruise control system, a vehicle entertainment system such as astereo, DVD, compact disc and the like. Still other implementations arecontemplated.

Powertrain control system 432 may communicate with mass data storage 446that stores data in a nonvolatile manner. Mass data storage 446 mayinclude optical and/or magnetic storage devices for example hard diskdrives HDD and/or DVDs. At least one HDD may have the configurationshown in FIG. 3A and/or at least one DVD may have the configurationshown in FIG. 3B. The HDD may be a mini HDD that includes one or moreplatters having a diameter that is smaller than approximately 1.8″.Powertrain control system 432 may be connected to memory 447 such asRAM, ROM, low latency nonvolatile memory such as flash memory and/orother suitable electronic data storage. Powertrain control system 432also may support connections with a WLAN via a WLAN network interface448 which may implement the beamforming techniques described above. Thecontrol system 440 may also include mass data storage, memory and/or aWLAN interface (all not shown).

Referring now to FIG. 3E, the present invention may be embodied in acellular phone 450 that may include one or more cellular antennas 451,either or both signal processing and/or control circuits, which aregenerally identified in FIG. 3E at 452, a WLAN interface and/or massdata storage of the cellular phone 450. In some implementations,cellular phone 450 includes a microphone 456, an audio output 458 suchas a speaker and/or audio output jack, a display 460 and/or an inputdevice 462 such as a keypad, pointing device, voice actuation and/orother input device. Signal processing and/or control circuits 452 and/orother circuits (not shown) in cellular phone 450 may process data,perform coding and/or encryption, perform calculations, format dataand/or perform other cellular phone functions.

Cellular phone 450 may communicate with mass data storage 464 thatstores data in a nonvolatile manner such as optical and/or magneticstorage devices for example hard disk drives HDD and/or DVDs. At leastone HDD may have the configuration shown in FIG. 3A and/or at least oneDVD may have the configuration shown in FIG. 3B. The HDD may be a miniHDD that includes one or more platters having a diameter that is smallerthan approximately 1.8″. Cellular phone 450 may be connected to memory466 such as RAM, ROM, low latency nonvolatile memory such as flashmemory and/or other suitable electronic data storage. Cellular phone 450also may support connections with a WLAN via a WLAN network interface468.

Referring now to FIG. 3F, the present invention may be embodied in a settop box 480 including either or both signal processing and/or controlcircuits, which are generally identified in FIG. 3F at 484, a WLANinterface and/or mass data storage of the set top box 480. Set top box480 receives signals from a source such as a broadband source andoutputs standard and/or high definition audio/video signals suitable fora display 488 such as a television and/or monitor and/or other videoand/or audio output devices. Signal processing and/or control circuits484 and/or other circuits (not shown) of the set top box 480 may processdata, perform coding and/or encryption, perform calculations, formatdata and/or perform any other set top box function.

Set top box 480 may communicate with mass data storage 490 that storesdata in a nonvolatile manner. Mass data storage 490 may include opticaland/or magnetic storage devices for example hard disk drives HDD and/orDVDs. At least one HDD may have the configuration shown in FIG. 3Aand/or at least one DVD may have the configuration shown in FIG. 3B. TheHDD may be a mini HDD that includes one or more platters having adiameter that is smaller than approximately 1.8″. Set top box 480 may beconnected to memory 494 such as RAM, ROM, low latency nonvolatile memorysuch as flash memory and/or other suitable electronic data storage. Settop box 480 also may support connections with a WLAN via a WLAN networkinterface 496 which may implement the beamforming techniques describedherein.

Referring now to FIG. 3G, the present invention may be embodied in amedia player 500. The present invention may implement either or bothsignal processing and/or control circuits, which are generallyidentified in FIG. 3G at 504, a WLAN interface and/or mass data storageof the media player 500. In some implementations, media player 500includes a display 507 and/or a user input 508 such as a keypad,touchpad and the like. In some implementations, media player 500 mayemploy a graphical user interface (GUI) that typically employs menus,drop down menus, icons and/or a point-and-click interface via display507 and/or user input 508. Media player 500 further includes an audiooutput 509 such as a speaker and/or audio output jack. Signal processingand/or control circuits 504 and/or other circuits (not shown) of mediaplayer 500 may process data, perform coding and/or encryption, performcalculations, format data and/or perform any other media playerfunction.

Media player 500 may communicate with mass data storage 510 that storesdata such as compressed audio and/or video content in a nonvolatilemanner. In some implementations, the compressed audio files includefiles that are compliant with MP3 format or other suitable compressedaudio and/or video formats. The mass data storage may include opticaland/or magnetic storage devices for example hard disk drives HDD and/orDVDs. At least one HDD may have the configuration shown in FIG. 3Aand/or at least one DVD may have the configuration shown in FIG. 3B. TheHDD may be a mini HDD that includes one or more platters having adiameter that is smaller than approximately 1.8″. Media player 500 maybe connected to memory 514 such as RAM, ROM, low latency nonvolatilememory such as flash memory and/or other suitable electronic datastorage. Media player 500 also may support connections with a WLAN via aWLAN network interface 516 which may implement the beamformingtechniques described herein. Still other implementations in addition tothose described above are contemplated.

Referring to FIG. 3H, the present invention may be embodied in a Voiceover Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone 600 that may include one or moreantennas 618, either or both signal processing and/or control circuits,which are generally identified in FIG. 3H at 604, and a wirelessinterface and/or mass data storage of the VoIP phone 600. In someimplementations, VoIP phone 600 includes, in part, a microphone 610, anaudio output 612 such as a speaker and/or audio output jack, a displaymonitor 614, an input device 616 such as a keypad, pointing device,voice actuation and/or other input devices, and a Wireless Fidelity(Wi-Fi) communication module 608. Signal processing and/or controlcircuits 604 and/or other circuits (not shown) in VoIP phone 600 mayprocess data, perform coding and/or encryption, perform calculations,format data and/or perform other VoIP phone functions.

VoIP phone 600 may communicate with mass data storage 602 that storesdata in a nonvolatile manner such as optical and/or magnetic storagedevices, for example hard disk drives HDD and/or DVDs. At least one HDDmay have the configuration shown in FIG. 3A and/or at least one DVD mayhave the configuration shown in FIG. 3B. The HDD may be a mini HDD thatincludes one or more platters having a diameter that is smaller thanapproximately 1.8″. VoIP phone 600 may be connected to memory 606, whichmay be a RAM, ROM, low latency nonvolatile memory such as flash memoryand/or other suitable electronic data storage. VoIP phone 600 isconfigured to establish communications link with a VoIP network (notshown) via Wi-Fi communication module 608 which may implement thebeamforming techniques described herein.

Moreover, while the present invention has been described with referenceto specific examples, which are intended to be illustrative only and notto be limiting of the invention, it will be apparent to those ofordinary skill in the art that changes, additions and/or deletions maybe made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of beamforming within a communicationsystem including (i) a first communication device and (ii) a secondcommunication device, the method comprising: receiving, at the firstcommunication device, a first estimate of a forward channel, wherein theforward channel is a communication channel from the first communicationdevice to the second communication device; determining, at the firstcommunication device, a first estimate of a reverse channel from signalsreceived from the second communication device, wherein the reversechannel is a communication channel from the second communication deviceto the first communication device; inferring, at the first communicationdevice, a second estimate of the forward channel from the first estimateof the reverse channel; decomposing, at the first communication device,the first estimate of the forward channel into a first plurality ofmatrices including a first right singular matrix V_(F) ^(H);determining, at the first communication device, a matrix V_(F) and fromthe matrix V_(F) ^(H), wherein V_(F) ^(H) is a conjugate transpose ofV_(F); decomposing, at the first communication device, the inferredsecond estimate of the forward channel into a second plurality ofmatrices including a second right singular matrix V_(I) ^(H);developing, at the first communication device, a calibration matrix as afunction of i) the matrix V_(F) and ii) the matrix V_(I) ^(H);developing, at the first communication device, a steering matrix using athird estimate of the forward channel and the calibration matrix; andusing the steering matrix, at the first communication device, to performbeamforming in the forward channel.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereindeveloping the steering matrix includes inferring, at the firstcommunication device, the third estimate of the forward channel from asecond estimate of the reverse channel.
 3. The method of claim 2,further comprising measuring the propagation effects on a signaltraveling from the second communication device to the firstcommunication device to determine the second estimate of the reversechannel, wherein inferring the third estimate of the forward channelincludes determining the transpose of the second estimate of the reversechannel.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein: determining the secondestimate of the reverse channel includes expressing the second estimateof the reverse channel in matrix form; and determining the transpose ofthe second estimate of the reverse channel includes transposing thematrix form of the second estimate of the reverse channel.
 5. The methodof claim 1, wherein determining the first estimate of the forwardchannel includes: transmitting, from the first communication device, aknown signal to the second communication device; and receiving, at thefirst communication device, the first estimate of the forward channeldetermined, responsive to the known signal transmitted from the firstcommunication device, by the second communication device.
 6. The methodof claim 1, wherein determining the first estimate of the reversechannel includes: receiving, at the first communication device, a knownsignal from the second communication device; and determining, at thefirst communication device, the first estimate of the reverse channelfrom the received known signal.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereindeveloping the calibration matrix as a function of i) the matrix V_(F)and ii) the matrix V_(I) ^(H) includes determining a product of thematrix V_(F) and the matrix V_(I) ^(H).
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein developing the steering matrix includes: developing the thirdestimate of the forward channel from a second estimate of the reversechannel; developing an implicit steering matrix from the third estimateof the forward channel; and developing a corrected steering matrix bycombining the calibration factor with the implicit steering matrix,wherein using the steering matrix to perform beamforming in the forwardchannel includes using the corrected steering matrix to performbeamforming in the forward channel.
 9. The method of claim 1, whereindecomposing the first estimate of the forward channel into the firstplurality of matrices including the first right singular matrix V_(F)^(H) comprises performing a first singular value decomposition (SVD),wherein decomposing the inferred second estimate of the forward channelinto the second plurality of matrices including the second rightsingular matrix V_(I) ^(H) comprises performing a second SVD.
 10. Afirst communication device, comprising: a network interface having abeamforming network coupled to a plurality of transmit antennas, whereinthe network interface is configured to control the beamforming networkusing a steering matrix so as to produce, via the plurality of transmitantennas, a transmit gain pattern having one or more high gain lobes,receive a first estimate of a forward channel, wherein the forwardchannel is a communication channel from the first communication deviceto a second communication device, determine a first estimate of areverse channel from signals received from the second communicationdevice, wherein the reverse channel is a communication channel from thesecond communication device to the first communication device, infer asecond estimate of the forward channel from the first estimate of thereverse channel, decompose the first estimate of the forward channelinto a first plurality of matrices including a first right singularmatrix V_(F) ^(H), determine a matrix V_(F) and from the matrix V_(F)^(H), wherein V_(F) ^(H) is a conjugate transpose of V_(F), decomposethe inferred second estimate of the forward channel into a secondplurality of matrices including a second right singular matrix V_(I)^(H), develop a calibration matrix as a function of i) the matrix V_(F)and ii) the matrix V_(I) ^(H), and develop the steering matrix using athird estimate of the forward channel and the calibration matrix. 11.The first communication device of claim 10, wherein the networkinterface is configured to infer the third estimate of the forwardchannel from a second estimate of the reverse channel.
 12. The firstcommunication device of claim 11, wherein the network interface isconfigured to: measure propagation effects on a signal traveling fromthe second communication device to the first communication device todetermine the second estimate of the reverse channel; and infer thethird estimate of the forward channel at least by determining thetranspose of the second estimate of the reverse channel as the thirdestimate of the forward channel.
 13. The first communication device ofclaim 12, wherein the network interface is configured to: express thesecond estimate of the reverse channel in matrix form; and determine thetranspose of the second estimate of the reverse channel at least bytransposing the matrix form of the second estimate of the reversechannel.
 14. The first communication device of claim 10, wherein thenetwork interface is configured to determine the first estimate of theforward channel at least by: transmitting a known signal to the secondcommunication device; and receiving the first estimate of the forwardchannel determined, responsive to the known signal transmitted from thefirst communication device, by the second communication device.
 15. Thefirst communication device of claim 10, wherein the network interface isconfigured to develop the calibration matrix at least by determining aproduct of the matrix V_(F) and the matrix V_(I) ^(H).
 16. The firstcommunication device of claim 15, wherein the network interface isconfigured to: develop the third estimate of the forward channel from asecond estimate of the reverse channel; develop an implicit steeringmatrix from the third estimate of the forward channel; develop acorrected steering matrix by combining the calibration factor with theimplicit steering matrix; and use the corrected steering matrix toperform beamforming in the forward channel.
 17. The first communicationdevice of claim 10, wherein the network interface is configured to:decompose the first estimate of the forward channel into the firstplurality of matrices including the first right singular matrix V_(F)^(H) at least by performing a first singular value decomposition (SVD);and decompose the inferred second estimate of the forward channel intothe second plurality of matrices including the second right singularmatrix V_(I) ^(H) at least by performing a second SVD.
 18. The firstcommunication device of claim 10, further comprising the plurality oftransmit antennas.
 19. A tangible, non-transitory computer readablemedium or media storing machine readable instructions that, whenexecuted by a processor of a first communication device, cause theprocessor to: receive a first estimate of a forward channel, wherein theforward channel is a communication channel from the first communicationdevice to a second communication device; determine a first estimate of areverse channel from signals received from the second communicationdevice, wherein the reverse channel is a communication channel from thesecond communication device to the first communication device; infer asecond estimate of a forward channel from the first estimate of thereverse channel; decompose the first estimate of the forward channelinto a first plurality of matrices including a first right singularmatrix V_(F) ^(H); determine a matrix V_(F) and from the matrix V_(F)^(H), wherein V_(F) ^(H) is a conjugate transpose of V_(F); decomposethe inferred second estimate of the forward channel into a secondplurality of matrices including a second right singular matrix V_(I)^(H); develop a calibration matrix as a function of i) the matrix V_(F)and ii) the matrix V_(I) ^(H); and develop a steering matrix using athird estimate of the forward channel and the calibration matrix,wherein the steering matrix is used by the first communication device toperform beamforming in the forward channel.
 20. The computer readablemedium or media of claim 19, storing machine readable instructions that,when executed by the processor, cause the processor to develop thesteering matrix at least by inferring the third estimate of the forwardchannel from a second estimate of the reverse channel.
 21. The computerreadable medium or media of claim 20, storing machine readableinstructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processorto: determine the second estimate of the reverse channel based onmeasured propagation effects of a signal traveling from the secondcommunication device to the first communication device; and infer thethird estimate of the forward channel at least based on determining atranspose of the second estimate of the reverse channel.